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Could Republican Party Move on From Trump?; Balance of Power Still in Limbo. Aired 1-1:30p ET

Aired November 10, 2022 - 13:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[13:00:17]

ANA CABRERA, CNN HOST: Hello. Thanks so much for joining us. I'm Ana Cabrera in New York.

Your vote, your voice, and now your patience. Two days after the midterm elections, we still don't know which party will control your government and its future priorities.

In the Senate, three races are still too close to call, and Republicans need two of those seats to take the majority. And the nominees from both Arizona and Nevada are both election deniers. Now, in the House, Republicans are inching toward a slim majority. They have locked in 209 seats. You can see there they need nine more to flip the House from the Democrats.

CNN's Sara Sidner is in Phoenix outside the Maricopa County Elections Center, one of the biggest population centers, where we're waiting on those vote totals to update.

Sara, Arizona has some of the most closely watched races on the state and national level. When will we have answers?

SARA SIDNER, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: That is a very good question, Ana.

And I wish I could give you an exact number. But I have someone here who can give you some great numbers and some updated numbers. We are here with the chairman of the Maricopa County board of supervisors. Bill Gates is here with us.

And we are actually inside looking at tabulations happening right this minute. The counting continues. And I know that you guys will be counting until you are done. I mean, that's where we're at.

Can you give me a sense of how many people came out to vote? Was this a huge turnout?

BILL GATES (R), MARICOPA COUNTY, ARIZONA, SUPERVISOR: Yes, so this was a big -- we have had a big turnout through the whole election, right, because it's not just Election Day.

We started early voting several weeks in advance of that. But with respect to Election Day itself, we had about 230,000 people come in person, but then also -- so they voted in person. And then, in addition to that, we had another 290,000 people who came with their early ballot, which, under Arizona law, they can come and just drop it off.

They don't want to wait in the line, just drop it off and head on their day. So when you combine both of that, it was a very busy day. And that 290,000 mail-in ballots that were dropped off on Election Day, it was a record and broke the previous record by 70 percent.

SIDNER: Seventy percent.

Are you saying that's the number? More people, 70 percent more people voted in this particular election?

GATES: No, what I'm saying is that 70 percent more voted by dropping off their early ballot.

And why that's relevant is, if you just vote on Election Day, you put it in the tabulator, it is counted that day or in the wee hours of the next day. If you drop off an early ballot, it means it has to come in on Wednesday, and start the process of being signature-verified.

So we have experts here who go through, compare the signature on the outside of the ballot envelope with the signature that we have in our voter registration file. So, that takes a while because we got to get that right. We want to make sure under -- we want to follow the law. We want to make sure that every eligible vote is counted.

And, by the way, that's how it's been since the 1990s. We have had a significant amount of mail voting in this state since the 1990s. This isn't new to us. I was here in 2006, when I was a Republican lawyer who was here watching the situation, making sure that the laws were being followed. And I sat on the steps outside of this building for days in a close congressional race.

People who are saying what's going on here, they haven't been paying attention the way that I have and a lot of my friends have. This is how we run elections in Arizona. If people don't like that, they can go the legislature, have the legislature pass new laws. But in Maricopa County, we will follow the laws that are passed by the state legislature.

SIDNER: And that has been your message to those that are questioning what is happening here. There have been a lot of allegations.

I lastly just want to ask you if you would give me a couple of vote counts. How many votes from today are you still -- do you still have to count? In other words, how many votes that were brought in on the day of the election in those envelopes do you still have to count?

GATES: We have to count all of those that were brought in from Election Day. None of those have been counted in reported, the 290,000.

SIDNER: So that is for sure, 290,000...

GATES: It makes up part of the 400,000. That's right.

SIDNER: So we're still at that number.

Bill Gates, I appreciate your time. Thank you very much for letting us in to see the process. And we are going to send it back to you.

Still, we're about between 400,000 and 410,000 votes here in Maricopa County that still need to be counted. And that is a huge number, because there's only about 560,000 votes across the state that still need to be counted.

We will give you an update as soon as we get one -- Ana.

CABRERA: Sara, real quick, can you ask Bill when he estimates -- or estimates those votes in Maricopa County will be counted?

[13:05:01]

SIDNER: Yes. Yes.

You know we do this to you every day, and I'm just going to have to do it to you again.

When do you anticipate the votes will be counted in total, those 400,000-plus votes?

GATES: Well, we have -- we will be going into next week. There's someone onesies, twosies, again, pursuant to Arizona law. But I think that we will see the lion's share here wrap up by early next week.

SIDNER: Early next week. Can you give me a day? We're talking Monday or are we...

GATES: Maybe I -- as long as you won't hold it to -- hold me to it, but I think that's what we're looking at this point, again, given the number of ballots here, the Arizona laws that we have to follow, and the fact that accuracy comes first.

SIDNER: There you go. Accuracy comes first.

Bill just telling us, look, it's probably going to be early next week. We knew that I think -- on Friday, you thought that maybe, Friday, 95 to 99 percent. But that has changed partly because there were so many people who came in and dropped those ballots, those early ballots off the day of the election.

So that's where we are. And I promise you, we will give you the information as soon as we get it. There will be another count that happens I think this evening and an announcement.

GATES: That's correct.

SIDNER: OK -- back to you, Ana.

CABRERA: OK. And, of course, both the governor's race and the Senate race there in Arizona are key races everybody's watching. Thanks, Sara Sidner and Bill Gates.

Now let's go to Nevada, the Senate and governor races both too close to call there as well.

CNN's Rosa Flores is in Las Vegas outside the Clark County Election Department.

Rosa, when do you expect the final votes counted there?

ROSA FLORES, CNN CORRESPONDENT: You know, Ana, we have been asking that same question, just like Bill Gates just told Sara Sidner, and what we're getting is very similar.

In essence, they don't know. But here in Nevada, we know that, by law, the unofficial results have to be presented by November 18. So that's next Friday. And, of course, everyone here watching these two races, both the U.S. Senate race and also the governor's race, they -- the margins are razor-thin. We are watching this.

Now, overnight, the U.S. Senate race got even tighter. It's less than 3 percent. Right now, the individual who's in the lead is the Republican, Adam Laxalt. The incumbent Democrat, Catherine Cortez Masto, is trailing by under 3 percent.

But of the ballots that are coming in, the ballots that have come in overnight, they have been trending in her favor. Now, we are hearing from both campaigns taking to Twitter to say the following.

The communications director from Catherine Cortez Masto's campaign saying: "Looking at the numbers that continue to come in, and we're on track to win."

Adam Laxalt also taking to Twitter, saying: "Last night went exactly as we anticipated." He says he added more in the rules. At the end there he says: "No status change."

And what he means by that, Ana, is that he could win as well, both camps clinging on to every single vote. Tens of thousands, though, are still remaining to be counted, Ana.

CABRERA: And we know that those ballots had to be postmarked by Election Day and arrive by Saturday. So those ballots are still arriving and will be counted this weekend or beyond.

Rosa Flores, thank you.

Now, if Democrats lose either Nevada or Arizona Senate races, it would all come down to Georgia again, deja vu. And it will be weeks before we have that winner. A run-off election is scheduled for December sixth.

CNN's Nick Valencia is in Canton, Georgia, north of Atlanta.

Nick, are we already seeing some national money funneling into this sprint to the finish? NICK VALENCIA, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, we are seeing the start of

the cavalry of top Republicans coming to town on, Ana, when, later today, Herschel Walker kicks off his run-off campaigning alongside Republican Senator Ted Cruz.

So we're seeing this doubling down in the investment by the GOP in Walker's campaign. We should expect to see the same from Democrats when it comes to Raphael Warnock. And one of the biggest questions, though, after Tuesday's election is whether or not we're going to see the former president here, Donald Trump, or if Walker will begin to distance himself from his longtime ally, like just like we have seen a lot of Republicans do so since the election.

Just listen to the lieutenant governor here in Georgia, Geoff Duncan, and what he said to our anchors on CNN this morning.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LT. GOV. GEOFF DUNCAN (R-GA): My advice, if anybody on the Herschel Walker team wanted to listen, would be to make three successful phone calls.

One is to tell Donald Trump to stay out of Georgia for four weeks. He's toxic and he would do nothing to help the ticket. Secondly, I would pick up the phone and call Brian Kemp and ask him for his help and apologize for not endorsing him during the primary against David Perdue.

And, third, I would call Ron DeSantis and ask him to come to Georgia as often as he possibly can the next four weeks.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

VALENCIA: You hear Duncan mentioned Brian Kemp.

A big takeaway from Tuesday is just how much Walker underperformed Brian Kemp, about 163,000 votes. With Kemp not on this run-off, how is that going to impact Walker's attempt to get out to vote?

Meanwhile, happening right now, Ana, Raphael Warnock is hosting his kickoff to his run-off campaigning just down the street from his old church, Ebenezer Baptist. This is the start of a very long four weeks for both candidates -- Ana.

[13:10:11]

CABRERA: Nick Valencia, thank you very much.

Let's step back now and really take in the bigger picture.

CNN's John Berman is at our Magic Wall to walk us through the races still in play in the all-important balance of power.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN HOST: The balance of power.

CABRERA: John, where do we stand in the House? Let's start there. BERMAN: In the House of Representatives right now, in terms of the

races that have been called, Republicans have 209 seats. Democrats have 192.

There are 34 -- I'm going to write this down -- 34 uncalled races. Republicans need -- you need to get to 218 to control the House of Representatives. Simple math here, Republicans need nine seats. Democrats would need 26. The reason I'm writing this here is to show you this.

Of the uncalled races right now. Republicans lead in 13, Democrats lead in 21. So Republicans lead in 13. They only need nine. Democrats lead and 21. They need 26. So the question is, if you're a Democrat, can you get there? Can you get from 21 to 26? Let's take a look.

It's hard, right? It's hard, but not impossible. They would need to flip five of these red seats right now. The most vote-rich environment for them in theory is on the West Coast, some of these districts out there. You have Oregon's Fifth Congressional District, only 79 percent reporting. The Democrat trails the Republican by 7,000. Not impossible.

California, we have a lot of really close races with a lot left account. In California's Third Congressional District, you have a 9,000 vote margin, but you only have 44 percent reporting, so a lot of room to grow there. In the 13th Congressional District, separated by just 203 votes, only 40 percent reporting.

Down here, closer to San Diego, you have the 41st Congressional District separated by 453 votes, only 41 percent reporting. So you see, in California, Democrats could pick up a number of seats there. And then the race that a lot of people have been watching, which is way closer than anyone was anticipating, and this is in Colorado, Colorado's Third Congressional District.

It's the seat held by very conservative election denier Lauren Boebert. She'd actually been trailing by 64 votes until about an hour ago. There were some new counting reported. She's now ahead by 386 votes with 96 percent reporting. We don't know exactly how much vote is left and where it's from.

We have been told, in Pueblo County, which is a county that does skew towards the Democrats, there are a couple thousand at least ballots left to count., so not impossible, not impossible this switches again. It could go back and forth for some time, Ana.

CABRERA: Thank you for ending on my home state of Colorado. That is a really interesting race there with Lauren Boebert and the competitor there, Frisch.

Thank you so much, John Berman.

And now looking ahead to the future of the country, right now, even conservative media is turning on Donald Trump after years under his tight grip. But will the GOP move on from the former president? And a beachside home teetering on the edge of a sandy cliff, as Tropical Storm Nicole unleashes on Florida. We are following the storm's path.

Plus, are we finally near the peak? Americans feeling the pain of inflation getting some good news today.

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[13:17:59]

CABRERA: Control of the House and the Senate still hanging in the balance, as votes are still being tallied. And Republican Leader Kevin McCarthy faces the prospect of his party winning the slimmest of majorities in the House.

And that means, to become speaker, he would need to win over some of the hard-liners he's butted heads with in his party, like Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.

CNN's Manu Raju is live for us on Capitol Hill.

Manu, McCarthy may have to make concessions to the very wing of his party that's being blamed for the GOP's underperformance. So what kind of maneuvering are we seeing right now?

MANU RAJU, CNN SENIOR CONGRESSIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes, it's really all about the margin for Kevin McCarthy right now. Of course, we have not yet called the House yet, but it appears that could be on track for a majority, potentially a narrow majority, far narrower than what Kevin McCarthy wanted.

His team had hoped going into Election Day that they could get potentially 20 or more seats. That would give them some flexibility, some room to lose some votes, not just on legislating, but also getting the votes in the full House in order to become speaker.

Remember, next week is the beginning of the process, Republicans will go behind closed doors. They will nominate their choice to become speaker. He only needs a majority of support within his conference to do that. The big vote comes in January. That's when 218 votes will be needed in the full house for him to get elected speaker.

And if there is a narrow Republican majority, say, 220 seats, maybe 225 seats, he can only afford to lose a handful of defections. Otherwise, it gets very complicated, which is why, behind the scenes, a number of these members of the Freedom Caucus are pushing for a number of different issues, including giving them more leverage over a potential speaker in the new Congress, as well as giving them more time to review legislation, also to get some commitments, at least consider moving forward on potential impeachment investigations.

So the question is what will McCarthy do? Because the demands are being made.

CABRERA: OK, Manu Raju, thank you for that update. Trump Dumpty had a great fall, that is the front page of the usually

Trump-friendly "New York Post" today, and it's not the only one that might have turned the page. Other conservative media outlets pointing the finger at the former president, after Republicans appear to be underperforming in the midterms.

[13:20:10]

You have this from "The Wall Street Journal" editorial board: "Trump is the Republican Party's biggest loser. He has now flopped in 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2022."

"The Washington Examiner" writes this: "These midterm elections have made it crystal clear that voters want to move past the chaos and dishonor of Trump."

And perhaps the most stinging of all from a FOX News column that says: "Ron DeSantis is the new Republican Party leader."

Let's bring in a pair of CNN political commentators, Republican strategist and former Trump campaign adviser David Urban and Democratic strategist Maria Cardona.

Guys, good to see you. I know you have been burning the candle at both. So thanks for making time to discuss with us.

MARIA CARDONA, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Yes.

CABRERA: David, I will start with you.

DAVID URBAN, CNN POLITICAL COMMENTATOR: Sure.

CABRERA: As we just showed those headlines today, what message did voters send to the Republican Party and Trump in this election?

URBAN: Listen, I think voters want to see perspective. They want to hear about the future, not about the past. They don't want to keep relitigating 2020 and past elections.

They want to have a vision, a clear vision for how we become more prosperous. Kevin McCarthy did that with a Commitment to America to a certain extent. But there was a drag. I mean, unfortunately, the president backed a large group of Senate candidates who have failed thus far, right, to win in all these elections.

And, listen, the Republican Party, just like the Democratic Party, wants a win. And so I think that you see these headlines in "The Post" and in "The Wall Street Journal" because Republicans want to win. There's so much stake for America -- there's so much at stake for America. Republicans can do better, and I think they're going to look to do better in the future.

So this little piece about DeSantis, I can't imagine there's going to be Lincoln Dinner, these fund-raising dinners are held across different states and counties, that they're not going to want Ron DeSantis there to speak. CABRERA: But I do think, as you said, they're looking to the future.

The question is, is Trump part of that future of the Republican Party?

URBAN: Listen, Donald Trump is always going to be a part of -- the Republican Party is not going to just quit Donald Trump, because the Republican Party has a large group of folks who love Donald Trump.

They're ride-or-die Trumpers, right? They're going to be there no matter what. And so this is what happened in the 2016 race, right, where there was a great big field. And there's a good core Trump supporters that are always going to be remaining there. The president has done a lot of great things when he was in power, when he was the president. And people don't forget that.

But people want to hear about the future, not about 2020 anymore.

CABRERA: So Democrats, of course, beat expectations, but they still suffered losses, Maria. And this is how the president is responding to questions about the future and his plan moving forward.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUESTION: What in the next two years do you intend to do differently to change people's opinion of the direction of the country, particularly as you contemplate a run for President in 2024?

JOE BIDEN, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: Nothing, because they're just finding out what we're doing. The more they know about what we're doing, the more support there is.

The problem is the major piece of legislation we passed -- and some of it bipartisan -- takes time to be recognized. So, I'm not going to change anything in any fundamental way.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CABRERA: Here's the thing, Maria. President Biden's approval is still in the mid-40s, and two-thirds of voters in the exit polling said they don't want him to run for reelection, and yet he will change nothing?

CARDONA: Well, I think the question was not about reelection. It was about the agenda moving forward.

And there's no question, Ana, that...

CABRERA: But that -- what we heard from voters should send a message to him that they aren't happy with the status quo.

CARDONA: Well, I think the message that was sent was that they certainly did not accept the extremism that many of the Republican candidates were offering.

And if you actually look at President Biden's agenda items, they poll off the charts individually. So what he said was actually right. The American people are just now understanding what it is that they're going to get, for example, out of the Inflation Reduction Act, the way that prescription drugs -- all the prescription drugs are going to go down in cost, the insulin, right, all of that, the energy costs.

All of that is starting to be registered right now. But I do think, moving forward, what this president and Democrats are certainly going to do -- and he talked about this last night as well -- is, he is, better than anyone, focused on trying to make sure to do something in a bipartisan way.

There are absolutely things that we should do for the American people working with Republicans. For example, I hope that we're able to come up with some kind, maybe not a grand bargain, but something where we can do something on immigration, for example. The dreamers are now in trouble. The Supreme Court completely took away the protections that they have for DACA kids.

That could be something where we could come up with something when the majority of American people, including majorities of Republicans, accept that this is an important thing to move forward. So there are certainly going to be things and we need to do things, because I think one of the biggest message -- messages that the American people gave to both parties is that they want us to work together for the future of the country.

[13:25:11]

URBAN: Yes, they want their government to work, right?

CARDONA: That's right.

CABRERA: Of course.

URBAN: People at home, they just want their government to work. They want their government to work.

CARDONA: That's exactly right.

URBAN: They're tired of hearing bickering back and forth.

Listen, Maria's point, we could do something on opioids, right, fentanyl coming across the border, flooding across the border, killing so many -- so many Americans. We need to do something to stem that tide. Right? We got to do something better to help Americans.

CABRERA: I like the messaging we're hearing from you both about working together. It's one of those, we will see what actually becomes reality.

Let's talk real quickly about the run-off in Georgia now just about a month away. And let's talk strategy on the Republican side, David, if you will, because a lot of people, I think, blamed Trump for the losses last time around, when Democrats picked up those two Senate seats in Georgia, giving them the majority.

URBAN: Sure.

CABRERA: And yet Herschel Walker was handpicked by Trump to run for Republicans for this seat, and it is so close. So would they benefit, would the Republican Party benefit by having Trump, I guess, get more involved in this race?

URBAN: So, look, it's a mixed bag, right, because the former president does motivate the base, going to get a lot of folks out.

But, at the same time, the gentleman the top of the ticket in Georgia, Governor Kemp, he garnered 54 percent of the vote in Georgia. And so, if I were Herschel Walker's campaign team, I would go to the Kemp folks and say, hey, join us, lock arms with us, knock doors with us, help us get out there and get elected, because there are a lot of Kemp voters, right, there are a lot of people who voted for Kemp that didn't vote for Herschel for some reason.

Maybe they voted for Warnock. Maybe they didn't vote. But I think Brian Kemp is the best...

CABRERA: For the third party, right?

URBAN: Or the third partier, who got about 2 percent of the vote, right?

And so they're going to need to figure out how to reach that third- party candidate's electors. And, listen, Brian Kemp is a great messenger, conservative messenger. And he's obviously done very well in Georgia. And I think it would behoove the Walker campaign to emulate what he did.

CABRERA: Real quickly, Maria, because Walker, of course, has been hit with allegations of domestic violence, paying for abortions.

CARDONA: Right.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: And, yes, look how close this is. Look how close this race is.

CARDONA: Yes.

CABRERA: So I wonder, does the Warnock camp need to shift its strategy in order to get him across the finish?

CARDONA: Well, I think what the Warnock campaign needs to do is to continue to communicate with all of the voters.

And I do think this is going to be a big challenge for both parties. And I actually think that the third-party candidate probably took votes from Warnock, and so if they do a very...

CABRERA: Why do you think that?

CARDONA: Because he's a libertarian, and a lot of the policies that he supported were moderate, were not extreme, the way that a lot of the Republicans were attracted to.

And so I think he has a chance to really reach out to those third- party voters, independent voters, to talk to them about the agenda, what he has done for Georgia, yes, to point out the extreme nature, the lack of morality, the hypocrisy that surrounds Herschel Walker.

And I think one of the important things to look at Georgia is, Herschel Walker, I think, is so close because the Republican Party surrounded him with support. My question for the future of the party is, the only way that they're going to be able to get rid of Trump, if they really want to turn the page, is for all of the leaders that in Georgia supported Walker would now stand up and say, you know what, Mr. Trump, this is our party, you need to go away.

If they don't do that, there is no way that the Republican Party is going to be able to turn the page on Trump, especially if, next week, the expectation is for him to jump into the presidential race.

CABRERA: See, I see what you did. You didn't make it about Democrats, and you suddenly made it about Republicans.

(LAUGHTER)

CABRERA: So let me give you just 10 seconds.

(CROSSTALK)

CABRERA: Really quick.

URBAN: The party is not going to get rid of Donald Trump anytime soon. I think he's going to be an asset at certain places in Georgia.

I think the key is going to be turnout, right? You're going to have to operationalize all this stuff. People don't want to hear about Herschel's past. They don't want to hear -- this is about knocking doors and dragging people to the polls. That's what is going to need to be done December 6.

CABRERA: Thank you both so much, Maria and David.

CARDONA: Good times.

URBAN: Thanks. Thanks for having us.

CARDONA: Thank you.

CABRERA: See you guys.

OK, today, some new hope that inflation may be peaking, and Wall Street is celebrating. You see there the Dow up almost 900 points right now.

Plus, we're covering what's happening in Florida, a state still reeling from Hurricane Ian, and some areas getting hit yet again. How Nicole is impacting the state -- next.

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